John Shea’s essay, “Exceeding Darkness and Undeserved Light,” outline four different environments that we all share, best understood as “the basic contours of our existence.” (Shea 2) The environments are made up of the self, loved ones, society and institutions, and universe. Our experience as humans may appear to be summed up by our interactions with these four, but there is a fifth environment which encompasses these: Mystery. Our basic experience can be understood in having two points: ourselves and the environment we encounter (for instance, I (1) eat bread (2)). When this interaction reveals a dimension of Mystery, we experience sacramental awareness (the addition of the third point). In the instance of eating bread, I might understand it to be not only bread but my personal participation in the account of Christ who gave his followers bread and told them it was his body, broken for them.

There are five primary ways Shea outlines as a means of becoming aware of the ultimate dimension of our experience as humans. First is contingency, “what Kazantzakis calls the luminous interval between two darknesses.” (Shea 13) Sometimes it looks like the gift of living fully and joyfully in the moment, amazed by the very experience of it all. At other times, it can be a reminder of how very fragile and finite out lives on this planet are. The second path is dialogue and communion. Through dialogue people discover who they are and in communion they discover a love and acceptance gifted to them by their community. The third path is collapse. “When order crumbles, Mystery rises.” (Shea 16) This is the falling apart of the beliefs or knowledge we clung to and our reaction to that loss. “A fourth path to Mystery leads through a deepened sense of the ambiguity of our moral activity.” (Shea) While we strive for moral ideals, we most often find ourselves falling substantially short. Last is disenchantment. Well known throughout history, it refers to an awakening which ultimately calls us into a maturing religious consciousness.

When we read Pigeon Feathers, by John Updike, we see a boys journey to sacramental awareness. The main character, David, experiences these environments in such a way that he becomes disenchanted, one of the five paths mentioned by Shea. David has an encounter with Reverend Dobson over heaven when he didn’t answer David satisfactorily. “His indignation at being betrayed, at seeing Christianity betrayed, had hardened him. The straight dirt road reflected his hardness.” (Updike 36) He searched and searched for truth, but he was lost in the darkness that can fall when one realizes there is a question but no answer. He saw his classmates and their ill-fated path towards imminent death and eventually lost his desire to read altogether. Although concerned, his parents resolved to give him a gun for his fifteenth birthday. We can see the “universe environment” and it’s influence on David as he practiced shooting, which put fear into his dog who he would sometimes comfort. “Giving this comfort to a degree returned comfort to him.” (Updike 43) Ultimately, David is asked to use his new skills to clear out the pigeons in the barn. Although he didn’t have a desire to, he did as he was asked. As he killed more and more pigeons, he enjoyed it more, feeling the power he held with his gun and his ability to predict the pigeons path. Yet it was when he went to bury them that Mystery entered into his world: “He had never seen a bird this close before. The feathers were more wonderful than dog’s hair… a pattern that flowed without error across the bird’s body. He lost himself in the geometrical tides…And across the surface of the infinitely adjusted yet somehow effortless mechanics of the feathers….no two alike… designs executed, it seemed, in a controlled rapture, with a joy that hung level in the air above and behind him.” (Updike 50) He was startled by the intention behind them and the fact that they were treated like pests. In this encounter, he rediscovered his God, “….that the God who had lavished such craft upon these worthless birds would not destroy His whole Creation by refusing to let David live forever.” (Updike 50)

The kinds of exploitation we see in the rainforest with regards to Sr. Dorothy Stang’s work can be described in terms of logging, ranching/irresponsible farm management, harassment, etc. If I were to try to identify the motivating factor behind their behavior regarding exploitation I see it as fear-based and hoarder-like which is not at all reflective of being in a relationship with God. Greed might be an easy word to jump to when we are used to having our needs met and not living in fear but that is not descriptive of the life of many in the rainforest. I think the behavior we see is mostly stemmed from fear of not having enough themselves and a fundamental lack of understanding in renewable and sustainable environments.

I feel the solution to this issue is more a matter of inspiring compassion and caring through the example of Jesus Christ and educating people about “financial planning” and land management. I believe Sr. Dorothy Stang covered quite a bit of this during the time she lived in Brazil, trying to get a proper balance between rainforest preservation and a sustainable living from the environment. After serving this community for decades she was stopped and threated by two men who ended up murdering her. I believe she didn’t resist, and instead blessed them in what she thought might be her last moments, because she didn’t want to hurt any human. If she worked so hard to save millions of lives, why would she harm any? She took seriously the beatitude from Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Those murderers were wrong and callous. The outrage people felt at her loss and the response to it was understandable but we cannot let that overtake us or harden our hearts to those hurting people or the environment. We must remember why Sister Dorothy was there. Sister Dorothy, who obviously felt a calling from Christ, must have looked at these ranchers and realized that Christ had also died for them. They have an opportunity at being redeemed through Him and we must try to help them towards that relationship.

Therefore, in her last moments, I think even then she was blessing people that she thought were still missing a relationship with Jesus, which would most likely free them from their fear and set them on the path which would result in respecting the lives of others and preserving their homes and the environment.

I am so tired… I’m not sure how I’ll make it through tomorrow. I like this quote from Renewing the Earth: An Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environment in Light of Catholic Social Teaching from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The diversity of life manifests God’s glory… Aquinas tells us, God “produced many and diverse creatures, so that what was wanting in one in representation of the Divine goodness might be supplied by another… hence the whole universe together participates in the divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better than any single creature whatever.”

They state at the beginning of their document that the whole universe is God’s dwelling and earth is humanity’s home. That we are reminded of the Creator through His creations and that, “Dwelling in the presence of God, we begin to experience ourselves as part of creation, as stewards within it, not separate from it. As faithful stewards, fullness of life comes from living responsibly within God’s creation.”

They go on to say that this does not mean that created things belong to the few, but to the entire human family. Although a life is not about the accumulation of things, all lives should be able to be lived out in dignity. They then follow with the following: “The painful adjustments we have to undertake in our own economies for the sake of environment must not diminish our sensitivity to the needs of the poor at home and abroad.”

Do you think they use the word “painful adjustments” to describe a change needed to the individual US Christian economy because we are so used to comfort and ease? Or because this kind of sacrifice is not familiar to most US citizens? Or do you think uncomfortable and painful could have been interchanged here?

Supporting renewable energy, cutting back on meat and animal-made products, planning trips to use less gas, buying local, starting your own garden, etc. Slowly being aware of your carbon footprint and reducing it in response to God’s call to stewardship that starts in Genesis and continues on. Do you think it’s painful? Or is it more about becoming aware and starting to make modifications for continuous improvement in this part of God’s call to us? How great of an urgency do you see here?

There is a thing that I’ve learned from CST called “Signs of the Times,” signs as indicators. I would encourage all Christians to opens their eyes, ears and hearts to these signs and see what it tells them.